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VISIT MY COMMENTARY SITE!

All photos are between: January 28, 2004 - (our closing date) and September 26, 2005 (our couldn't take anymore date) - bidding our builder, Ryland Homes, good riddance by officially kicking them out of our construction site of a house (21 months later).

February 11, 2011

"Press Conference and Rally on South Steps of the Capitol on Tuesday, February 15

Joining us at the Press Conference will be Senators and State Representatives. The Press Conference will begin at 12 Noon. Please try to arrive at 10:00 AM so that we may gather for instructions and material.Handouts will be available for homeowners to take to their legislators listing legislative changes needed.

Homeowners will be able to visit their senators and representatives to voice their personal concerns and need for change! Please let us know who your senator and representative are so that we can organize appointments for everyoneto make the days activities flow smoothly. Find your legislators at "Who Represents Me?" at http://www.legis.state.tx.us/

With a united effort we can make a difference; like last session in an unprecedented move our Texas Elected Official got our message and abolished TRCC the agency created and run by Bob “The Builder” Perry and fellow unregulated builders. Proving that with patients and determination together we can make http://hoareformcoalition.org/ http://http://hoareformcoalition.org/Hjavascript:mctmp(0);://hoareformcoalition.org//.

Home Owners for Better Building (HOBB), Texas Homeowners for HOA Reformand the Texas Housing Justice League formed the HOA Reform Coalitionhttp://hoareformcoalition.org/ to give larger voices an opportunity to be heard.For those of you in HoustonBus Information. Please confirm ASAP if you plan to join us and please state which site you have chosen for pick-up. We must have accurate lists so that all will be accounted for. And yes, you may bring lunches with you. Our plan is to be back in Houston by 7:00 PM.

First Site for Pick-up:

Bus will meet us at the front side of Sugar Land City Hall (Town Center) across the street from Starbucks on February 15th. Get your coffee early, the bus leaves at 6:30am sharp

June 04, 2008

This coming Thursday June 5 1:00 P.M. EDT– Join UsDiscuss the costly and
harmful effects of Binding
Arbitration, our rights andthe
justice system on consumers.
Get an update on the Arbitration Fairness Act

May 30, 2008

Sun City, AZ. -"Owners of about 1,000 homes in Sun City Grand, one of Surprise's
most affluent retirement communities, are seeking legal action against
developer Pulte Homes (PHM) to correct alleged construction defects. The sheer number of participants puts this among the largest such complaints in Arizona history, building experts say...The law firm representing the residents argues that abnormal cracking
in walls, floors and ceilings demonstrates a clear pattern of defective
construction. It says the repairs could amount to $50,000 to $100,000
per home...
Other complaints by residents include: Stucco: About half the homes do not have 'weep screeds.' A weep screed
is part of stucco wall construction that allows rainwater to drain out
of the walls and prevents mold growth. Acoustics: Noise levels are too high inside some Sun City Grand
households, which fall within the noise-impact zone of Luke Air Force
Base. Concrete: Foundations are deteriorating because of corrosive salts and desert weathering...Pulte merged with Del Webb Corp., famous for its Sun City brand developments, in 2001.'The homeowners relied on Del Webb and the promises they would use
quality-control measures in connection with the construction, and
they're terribly disappointed,' said attorney Ken Kasdan.'What they see
is Del Webb walking away from responsibility in the community.'... 'The thing is, I want my home fixed, because I came here for retirement and I plan to die here,' he said."...April 15, 2008

Dallas, TX. -"You scrimped and
saved for years to buy a new home, only to have your euphoria cut short
when you find serious construction flaws and learn that your
homebuilder isn't about to pay up... The Texas
Residential Construction Commission was supposed to provide homeowners
recourse against shoddy homebuilders...Homeowners
must go through the commission's complaint process before they can
pursue arbitration or litigation. And here's the kicker: The commission
has no authority to compel homebuilders to fix faulty houses. A Dallas Morning News report
last fall uncovered this rather large flaw: Even though the commission
had ruled in favor of a number of homeowners, reporters found that many
were still hassling with builders to make things right. State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, offers a good fix. She's
introduced HB 2721, which amounts to a lemon law for new homes. The
bill would force builders, under certain circumstances, to buy back a
home if they fail to make repairs recommended by the commission. In
addition, if the builder decided to put the house back on the market,
it would be required to disclose that the home was 'bought back' and
why."...03/27/07

U.S.A. -"Less than a year after moving into her new 2,100-square-foot house
in Lenexa, Kans., Susan Sabin has strung up lemon lights in her front
window. The lemons, she says, go perfectly with the home's most
prominent features: jammed doors, warped windows, bent pipes and
cracked walls. 'The house is essentially splitting in two,' says Sabin...now stories of shifting soil, leaky roofs, damaged stucco and other construction defects abound...the building frenzy also opened the door for unskilled labor, unscrupulous contractors and untested products...Contractor problems rank among the most common consumer complaints, according to the Better Business Bureau...What do you do? A lawsuit is bound to be expensive and messy, if you
can even get in front of a jury at all; many builder's contracts
nowadays include abinding-arbitration clausethat essentially waives
your right to a jury trial....Here'show to evaluate the likelihood that you'll be able to get your home repaired at minimal cost, and your plan of action."...June 21 2007: 6:59 PM EDT

Mesa, AZ.-"Pinal County resident Etta Estes wrote 'I hate my Beazer. Ask me
why' on her truck. Citing her opinion of her Beazer Homes USA (BZH) house
isn’t limited to her vehicle — it's also displayed on her Beazer-built
home, her son's car and her 3-year-old's Big Wheel. In
Gilbert's Trilogy at Power Ranch, two homeowners, Craig Chernoff and
Jim Daniels, handed out pamphlets and made signs that stated, 'Awareness - Residents of Trilogy,' which Chernoff held on neighborhood
streets to inform people about the issues they had with Shea Homes...Cynthia Dunham, executive director of The Leadership Centre, a
Chandler-based organization dealing with community and neighborhood
issues, said frustration is the driver for homeowners who resort to
publicizing their bad experiences. 'Their reality is not what
their expectations were,' she said. 'I appreciate that they're trying
to communicate with neighbors, that's a positive thing. By organizing
with neighbors, they can affect change.'...She filed a complaint with theRegistrar of Contractors and has been
scheduling repairs with the builder’s warranty department. In the
complaint, Estes listed numerous issues including plumbing, leaks,
broken tile, mold and flooding... Chernoff and Daniels moved to homes in Trilogy at Power Ranch about two years ago...Both men filed complaints against the developer with the Registrar of
Contractors... And, they said, they’re concerned to learn that homes
sold by Shea were actually built by UDC Homes Construction 'doing
business as' Shea Homes...Any time within two years, homeowners who have purchased new or old
homes can have a free inspection through the Registrar of Contractors,
he said. And if developers aren’t making fixes, they can contact the
agency or file a complaint."10/08/06

May 29, 2008

Orlando, FL.-"Another class-action lawsuit has been filed in the ongoing legal
fallout over homes built on and near a former World War II-era bombing
range in southeast Orlando. The latest suit, filed this week in
Orange Circuit Court, is similar to at least three others. It alleges
fraud and other actions that have harmed property owners. The suit is filed on behalf of Orlando homeowners Vivian Sipe and Marc Gervais by a South Florida law firm against builders Engle Homes, Inc.,based in Boca Raton and its corporate parent, Tousa Homes Inc. based in Hollywood. The suit claims that the builders knew there might be unexploded bombs,
bomb debris and contaminated dirt but didn't tell homebuyers, attorney
Bobby Robbins said...The complaint of Sipe and Gervais parallels the other suits
representing more than 400 homeowners living on and near the former
12,483-acre Pinecastle Jeep Range off Lee Vista Boulevard. Since July,
more than 260 bombs and more than 14 tons of bomb debris have been
unearthed." May 23, 2008

Stroudsburg, PA.-"The fourth of five people charged in a
conspiracy to defraud home buyers was sentenced Thursday to a year's
probation after pleading guilty to perjury. Lauren
Erb, 47, of Kunkletown was charged with taking part in the fraud scheme
by signing as a witness on a forged home sales agreement in 1998, and
then making a false statement to a Harrisburg grand jury in 2004 when
asked about what she did. The state Attorney General's Office in January
2005 filed fraud charges against Erb and others affiliated with Eagle
Valley Homes in Brodheadsville, including ownerSteven Parisi, mortgage
broker Rose Perdue, builder Donald Kishbaugh and Mountain Valley
Abstract owner Anita Peterson. The scheme
involved false documents, forged signatures, inflated home prices and
phantom down-payments on second mortgages hidden from the buyers and
primary lender, according to the Attorney General's Office. In return for pleading guilty to perjury, the forgery charge against Erb was dismissed."...September 15, 2006

Stroudsburg, PA.-"A deeply divided jury Thursday acquitted
home-sales title agent Anita Peterson on two charges regarding the way
she handled home closings, but deadlocked on six other counts. She is expected to face a new trial in May...Following a six-day trial, Peterson, who facilitated home sales
transactions as former owner of Mountain Valley Abstract, was found
innocent of one count of perjury and one count of falsely testifying
before a Harrisburg grand jury...Deputy Attorney General James Reeder, the prosecutor, said he intends to retry Peterson on those six counts...Peterson handled home closings for Eagle Valley Homes, a former
Brodheadsville builder whose two owners each pleaded guilty last year
to a single home-sale fraud charge and were sentenced to probation...The state also produced secretly taped phone
calls between Peterson and a cooperating witness in which Peterson
appears to tell the witness she weeded through and removed notes from
her subpoenaed files. But Peterson never said she removed 'checks' from
those closing documents. The jury apparently believed Peterson, since the two charges they acquitted her on dealt directly with producing the checks...Prosecutors say Peterson intentionally falsified
dollar amounts on federal Housing and Urban Development disclosure
forms to hide the fact that buyers didn't have enough money at closing
to qualify for mortgages under terms set by the primary lender. They
also say Peterson hid the existence of second mortgages, used as down
payments on the primary mortgage.They charge
that Peterson also hid some aspects of multiple transactions, sometimes
involving the sale of land from one Eagle Valley subsidiary to another,
before the land was immediately sold again to the buyer as part of a
home-construction package."...March 16, 2007

Stroudsburg, PA.-"Will the title agent accused of altering
home-sale records, removing key documents and lying about it be
convicted by her own words? The trial of
Anita Peterson, the abstractor who handled sales closings for Eagle
Valley Homes, is underway with prosecutors playing two secretly taped
phone conversations.Peterson's comments were recorded through the cooperation of Dana
Kleintop, a former Eagle Valley mortgage broker who turned evidence in
return for immunity from prosecution...She is charged with removing key documents from
Eagle Valley Homes sales files subpeonaed by a state grand jury formed
by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.This
includes removing copies of checks — which prosecutors say show
discrepencies between the stated amounts buyers put down for homes and
the amount ultimately reported to the bank on the federal HUD
disclosure form. Authorities say Eagle Valley Homes did this to inflate
mortgages and create false down payments...Defense Attorney Marshall Anders challenged Kleintop’s credibility.
Anders said Kleintop herself presented false pretenses in the phone
conversations, misrepresented facts in her own testimony to the grand
jury, and broke the law while employed at Eagle Valley...Kleintop admitted she altered sales agreements by inflating sales
prices and hiding down payments, to falsely make it appear to the banks
that buyers made the required 15 percent down payments."...March 08, 2007

Woodland Hills, CA.-"Homeowners in the Siena Development filed FRAUD charges today against
The Lee Group, Inc. (Contractors lic. #684904) located in Marina del
Rey, CA. Also included among the other charges in the complaint are: 'Significant financial and physical injury due to significant
incompetence and delays not disclosed resulting in many major
uninformed financial decisions over a three year period, and having to
live in the resulting filthy conditions for at least a year.', 'Failure
to build to trade standards', 'Failure to correct construction defect
issues', 'Failure to correct damages caused by adjacent construction
activities', 'Building on, under, and over, and taking permanent
unauthorized and illegal easement to the property of others'. These
homeowners will now begin a campaign to inform the public and other
existing and potential buyers in Lee Homes developments throughout
Southern California so that their decisions to purchase may be based on
all material information about this developer instead of just the image
they attempt to portray in duping potential buyers with unattainable
promises. To this end these homeowners are unveiling with this release
a public website to be further developed over the coming weeks and by
other owner input at: LeeHomes.info. Additional inquiries for more information and pictures can be made to David Davis at (818) 347-5300"July 13, 2007

Charlotte, NC.-" Federal officials, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
are investigating Beazer Homes USA Inc.,(BZH) one of the nation's largest
home builders, that has been criticized recently for its
mortgage-lending practices. 'There are potentially all sorts of
fraud issues associated with Beazer to include corporate, mortgage or
investments in varying degrees,' Ken Lucas, an FBI spokesman in
Charlotte, N.C., said in an interview yesterday."...3/28/07

May 27, 2008

A report on Arbitration is currently being
prepared and we need to hear about your experience. Even if you
decided not to go to arbitration for any reason or have sent your
arbitration experience before please send it again, with any updates and
additional comments.

Specifically, we are looking for stories
that reflect one or more of the following:

You were unaware of the mandatory binding arbitration clause until the dispute arose.

You could not afford the costs of arbitration, and therefore, did not pursue the dispute.

You decided not to pursue a legal dispute against your builder after learning the negative results for homeowners in Arbitration and that builders most often win in Binding Mandatory Arbitration (BMA).

You decided not to pursue BMA because you learned the arbiters’ decision is binding and cannot be appealed.

The decision rendered by the arbitrator was unconscionable, clearly contrary to the law, and/or went against the general notion of justice.

The TRCC law is up for sunset review, a process that includes a
public
comment period through May 16 and hearings Sept. 23 and 24, during
which commissioners invite public testimony. Under sunset law
provisions, lawmakers are supposed to address any concerns raised when
they convene in 2009.

To fix this grossly unbalanced legislation will
require a willingness among representatives to give the same
consideration to the needs ofTexas homebuyers
as they do to thewishes of the construction industry."

Does
any of this sound vaguely familiar? It should; its damn near a mirror image of
what is happening today with a few caveats. Here
is what happened back then…

A
bunch of greedy people got together and opened up a slew of S&L’s (Savings
and Loans - specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage
loans) that were able to take in millions of dollars in government backed (FSLIC ) CD deposits and then take
the same deposits (minus their capitol of course) and originate new mortgage
loans with the money. Everyone involved got rich.

Then
the greedy people got even greedier. The owners of these S&L’s began
using the profits to make loans to their friends, relatives, and developers
to fund construction projects that should never have been built. This
created a building boom with no buyers. Meanwhile, all of this money
being generated made it possible for kickbacks to accountants,
auditors, representatives and senators on the banking committees.

Then
the recession hits and the developers default on the loans causing a collapse
of the construction market. Then our government comes to the rescue of the
developers and S&L’s (who just got filthy rich) with our taxpayer money to
bail them out.

Residential
homebuilders saw the opportunityto makerecord
profits due to the lowering of interest rates and a possible repeat of
history. When the builders saw how much money the lenders were making they
decided to enter and push their own mortgages; many timesforcing
homebuyers to use their in-house financing. Then subprime lending was just
too profitable to ignore and the bighomebuilders
began pushing riskier loans to people who were obviously not going to be
unable to repay them. All the while, building shoddily
constructed new homes at a fevered pace causing the huge overhang of
severely overpriced homes (by as much as 60%) in the residential housing
market we are currently enjoying.

If
this dual “Sodomiseing of the American Taxpayer” (you and me) to further
enrich the wealthy has angered you as it has me, I urge you tocontact your congressmenandsenatorsand demand their accountability to the American people instead of continuing
"corporate
welfare" and strike out the tax credits demanded by the
homebuilding industry (blackmail money) from the Housing Relief Bill /
The Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. And
if our elected officials refuse to represent their constituents – let’s vote
the sorry b**tards out of office!!

Case in point; the Texas Supreme Courts decision Friday, in the infamousBob
Perry vs. Robert and Jane Cull case which illustrates how builder
political contributions can so profoundly influence, when the court found in
favor of Perry. The Cull's were understandably stunted at learning of
the decision. The couple has come to understand under the worst possible
circumstance that a new home warranty is not a warranty at all but a
deceptive false sense of security, designed to end in vicious litigation,
influenced by big money.

This decision sets a double standard. No where has special interest money
been more powerful and evident as Texas where builders freely build substandard homes, confident they will not be held
accountable. As I have said before, “As
Goes Texas So Goes the Nation.”

Help us to help you by keeping in touch. Tell your story through HOBB, to your elected officials, and write the press.
We would like to hear from you so, please take a few minutes to post your
comments on the HOBB
Forum.

April 11, 2008

Bloomberg -"Suppose you're trying to sell your
house when a similar home down the street has a sign in its yard
proclaiming, 'Foreclosure. Priced to Sell.'' You're probably already upset because the foreclosure likely
has driven down the value of homes in the neighborhood. Then you
learn that a law has just been passed giving a $7,000 income tax
credit to anyone who buys a foreclosed property, further
undercutting your asking price...More than $25 billion would be
handed out to homebuilders over a three-year period in the form
of rebates of income taxes paid during the height of the housing
boom. The proposal would let homebuilders carry net-operating
losses incurred in 2008 and 2009 for four years instead of just
two as the tax code now allows...No, they're not keys to handling the housing crisis. At best, they would be a waste of taxpayer money. At worst,
they might delay some of the adjustments that have to occur
before the housing market can stabilize. The $7,000 credit, which would be paid over two years, is as
likely to depress values as to prop them up. Why provide a credit to a buyer that's also going to help a
lender sell a property when a hard-pressed homeowner in the same
neighborhood is also trying to sell his property, possibly to
avoid a foreclosure? Might that other owner not feel pressure to
lower his asking price in the face of an effective reduction in
the price of the foreclosed property?...Like the credit for someone buying a foreclosed property,
the income-tax break for homebuilders could have a perverse
impact and actually extend rather than shorten the current
crisis...Avoiding the sale of land and the inventory of unsold new
homes is exactly the wrong thing to encourage. Reducing the
overhang of new homes is the real key to establishing a bottom
for the industry. And until that is done, shoring up homebuilder
bottom lines would do precious little to prevent layoffs...This legislation known as the 'Foreclosure Prevention Act
of 2008'' should be called the 'Homebuilder Bailout Act.'''April 7, 2008